Circle of Healing - A strong card by itself which also has combo potential. Works well with the plan to overwhelm on board by sheer bulk.
Silence - Strong tech card on occasion. Leads into later silence-related gameplay well.
Penance - Our first borrowed card. This is a simple, strong piece of minion control that I think would be well-suited to the Classic set. Not much more to say, beyond mentioning that I think including things like Lifesteal or Discover in the Classic set is fine - we already have Poisonous.
Thoughtsteal - Is it good? Not really. Does it represent a mechanic I like and would enjoy seeing more of in future expansions? Absolutely. Not every card needs to be a 10/10 hit.
Darkshire Alchemist - Strong single target heal. Again, it can be comboed to deal damage, but in general it just works with my outlasting gameplay I want to encourage.
Temple Enforcer - Simple health buff. Not too strong, but reliable and emblematic of something I want to see.
Barrier Priest - An expansion on the Barrier concept. Can be used to potentially save a single minion for a turn; to defend your hero in a pinch; or to hide behind a Taunt in the hopes of no targeted removal. I even let it target enemy characters for some sort of nonsense - make 'em overdraw a ton with their Acolyte of Pain or something =P
Mass Dispel - Solid area silence. Little bit of additional draw. Nothing fancy, but a solid card.
Shadow Madness - An expansion on the stealing concept that works quite nicely, I feel. Didn't see a need to remove it, but not one I'm particularly attached to either.
Mass Hysteria - The replacement for Holy Nova, so that Priest doesn't need to keep getting strong board clear after strong board clear. Plays well with the idea that you would have high Health minions. I changed the art because it felt quite expansion-specific, but really it doesn't need it.
Holy Fire - Technically a small buff here, but I figured if we were adding Penance we may as well. A little bit of reach or some more minion damage, as needed.
Embrace the Shadow - Combo time! This feels much better as a Classic card than Auchenai Soulpriest to me. It's more obviously a combo piece, rather than a weird inbetween, and its lower cost allows you more flexibility in how you play afterwards.
Holy Guardian - Strong Health gaining target, like a reverse Holy Champion. As I said, I prefer Health buffs than Attack buffs in Priest, which is why I made this card instead of just taking Champion in. Could maybe use a numbers tweak, but the overall design is one I'm pleased with.
Cabal Shadow Priest - More stealing, more fun! Solid card with an interesting effect to get players excited to pull of a weird play with it.
Alonsus Faol - I thought long and hard about the Legendary to include in the Classic set. It needed to be something that was 'game-ending' - something that represented a power-spike when it entered, rather than a combo piece or simple good card. I almost went with Catrina Muerte, to give Resurrect some representation in basically its most balanced card, but the flavour isn't quite right. No other existing cards felt right, so I had to make one up; using a prominent lore character, we get an extremely strong heal which can allow you to wipe a board favourably and then remain completely healthy afterwards. Not your traditional game-ender, but then, Priest isn't trying to win in a traditional way.
EDITOR'S NOTE: Balance changes - Barrier Priest can now only target minions instead of characters.
